Washington | A former US Defence official responsible for the AUKUS submarine pact says a lack of urgency and accountability is plaguing the initiative, and called on both Canberra and Washington to appoint new officials to be responsible for keeping it on track.

Abraham Denmark, who led AUKUS implementation efforts as the senior adviser to the former US Defence secretary, said Australia and the United States should follow the example of the United Kingdom, which appointed a special adviser to Prime Minister Keir Starmer to drive progress on the defence co-operation agreement.